Thanksgiving
by Sprklz03
Summary: Andrea Universe. The spunky blonde gets Jo and Zane on a vacation for the four day holiday to her house in Washington D.C. How will Zane cope with being in the General's house when he obviously doesn't want him there. Rated T for language and brief sexual innuendo.
1. Chapter 1

Jo smacked Zane upside the head.

"Ow. Watch it Jo-Jo." He did however remove his hand from her thigh as the plane landed. She raised her eyebrow at him and he smirked back at her.

"You can't do that in front of Mansfield." Zane's blue eyes rolled.

"Right. I am going to be subject to the groping hands of Andrea." Jo smiled and laughed at the thought of her blond haired, golden eyed, crazy about sexy male's best friend.

"Yeah I know." She said, standing and stretching from the five hour flight.

She looked down and Zane didn't bother to hide the smirk at watching her stretch. She rolled her eyes but allowed a small smile to pull at her lips. Since Andrea had left Eureka those two months ago, Jo had allowed Zane back into her life. Not quite to the extent that he had been before 1947, but hey one small step at a time. Zoe had gone off in a huff back to Harvard and Jo had mentioned stopping to see her but then thought better of it. The teenager was still angry at both of them.

"I can drive." Zane stated. Jo was looking out the window at baggage claim. The light snow on the ground was still giving her pause. However she did know how to drive in the snow, she would prefer a cab, mostly because the clouds outside were practically black.

"I don't know." She said slowly.

"Jo, I grew up out here. I know how to drive in a blizzard." That didn't give Jo any comfort. Zane rolled his eyes before going to rent a car, successively ending the argument. Jo sighed and walked over to the car rental counter behind Zane. The red head that was helping him was blushing slightly and had a slight glint in her green eyes. Jo pulled her bottom lip in between her teeth and attempted to ignore the conversation. The fact that Zane was flirting back and had his charm-the-pants-off-any-woman smirk on his face was making it difficult for Jo to breath. However, she pushed the emotion back pulling the Enforcer back in place.

"Well thank you Kimberly. You have a great night." Zane said, turning around with keys in his hand. "You ok Jojo?" She looked over at him and nodded. "We will be fine. You know how to get there right?" She sighed, pushing back any anger she had with him about flirting and smiled.

"Yes I know how to get there."

"Then let's go. I wanna see Mansfield's head explode." Zane said, grabbing both his and Jo's suitcases from the carrousel.

"You know you are terrified." Zane glared over at her, a look on his face she was still getting used to. "I saw you in Fargo's office." Zane's look diminished.

"He was yelling at me like he caught me on his computer." Jo laughed. However her Zane did get caught on a computer felony, he had been welcomed into the Physics department with excitement. Apparently this Zane, with his bitterness toward being in jail at all pushed everyone's buttons and quickly got demoted to head computer technician, leaving his physics skills to rot. "What?" He asked. Jo had been staring at him again. "Gonna tell me about that ring?" He had been randomly throwing that into their conversations hoping to catch her off guard; too bad she was always on guard with him.

"I was just thinking about Andrea." His smirk fell slightly.

"Oh." Then it perked back up. "Are you gonna kiss her again, cause that was really hot!"

"I actually have no control over who Andrea kisses." Zane didn't miss the hint of anger in her voice, but he decided not to comment on it as she grabbed her suitcase from him.

E

"Zane you missed the turn." Zane gripped the wheel, knuckles turning white. She had said that almost every time he drove past a street.

"That wasn't Southern Jo. You told me to turn left on Southern."

"I can't see anything in this snow." She said, slamming a fist into the dashboard.

"Well I can. Calm down Jojo." He didn't want to pay damage fees on a rental car and he was certain that Jo could break through the dash if she wanted to. "You said Southern to Fort Dupont Street. That was Alabama." Jo sighed as they came up to the next stop light and Zane pulled into the left turn lane. He glanced over, watching Jo chew on her lower lip as the light turned green. The first left turn after they turned on Southern was Fort Dupont and he waited until the hazy head lights passed them, turning and watching Jo visibly relax into her seat.

"Take the next left and then the first right." She said, pulling her hair over her shoulder. She started twirling a strand around her finger. He could tell that something was really bothering her has they pulled onto Fort Davis Place. "It's at the end, on the left." She said pointing. Zane tugged the wheel around the cul-de-sac and parked in front of a large gray house with light pouring out of the picture windows on the bottom floor.

"That's it?" He asked.

"This is it. Bill isn't here." She said, preparing to get out of the car.

"Who?" He shut the engine off, feeling the instant loss of heat from the engine as he glanced out to make sure no cars were coming before he got out.

"General Mansfield. His first name is Bill."

"I don't get to call him that do I?" He asked, meeting her at the back of the car for the suitcases.

"Not unless you want your head to remain attached to your body." She smirked at him, the teasing smirk he had become used to in the last two months and watched her walk up the drive way. They would be spending three nights in D.C and he knew that he wasn't going to pester her about the ring but he did want to know what was bothering her.

Before he had a chance to ask, Jo had rang the doorbell rubbing her hands together to create some fraction of warmth. He was going to help but as he reached the small front porch the door opened and Andrea's blond curls were bouncing around Jo's head.

"Jay! How was the flight?" She asked pulling back and smiling. Zane smiled slight and shook his head; he hadn't known her long but knew that he could always count on Andrea to have a smile on her face. Her golden eyes glanced over, locking with his as if she knew he was thinking about her and they got wide. "Shut up you brought sexy Superman." Then Andrea was locked around his neck. "Wholy crap your cold. Come inside." She tugged on his arm pulling him passed Jo who she pecked on the cheek in the process. He smirked, leaning in to do the same, until Jo's palm was pressed against his face.

"Nice try." He smirked at her through her fingers, and to get a rise out of her kissed her palm instead. He smirked through Jo's fingers over at Andrea whose smile was no longer as bright as it had been.

"Mom, Jo's here." Andrea shouted, causing both Jo and Zane to flinch.

"Josefina?" An older version of Andrea came out of the kitchen wearing an apron that looked like it was covered in blood. His eyes must have widened because Jo smiled.

"Hi Denny." Jo was hugging the older Andrea as the younger version sidled up to his side.  
>"Don't kiss her palm." Andrea whispered. He looked down at her, slightly confused. "Just don't." He had learned in the last two months to just go with whatever Andrea said.<p>

"Whatever you say Dre." He said smirking down at her. She smirked back and linked her arm threw his elbow, tugging him forward to the bloodied woman.

"Mom, this is Zane." Denny looked up from fussing over Jo's hair and smiled a brilliant smile that her daughter inherited and belied the amount of red stained on her apron. "But you might know him better as Donovan." Denny's face fell slightly and then blinked rapidly.

"It's really nice to meet you; however I don't pity whatever you are attacking in the kitchen." He said, turning on his most charming smile to the General's wife. She blinked again in slight confusion before looking down.

"Oh." Then she nodded. "I'm making cranberry sauce. Please come in, you two look frozen." Denny was suddenly fussing over Jo again and Zane blinked, thoughts momentarily shut down. The most amazing phenomena was happening; Jo was blushing. He licked his lips, attempting to stop the dry mouth that was currently happening. He never thought in a million seconds would Enforcer, Jo Lupo blush at anything.

"You might want to put that away." He glanced down at the blonde still on his arm. He pulled his tongue back into his mouth and smirked down at her. Jo walked into the kitchen after Mrs. Mansfield and Andrea smirked. "I wasn't talking about that. I was talking about this." She said, patting him lightly on the fly of his jeans.

"Hey." He said, jerking back at the motion. Andrea was laughing slightly.

"Keep it from sticking out and I won't have to push it back in." With that, she removed her hand from his arm and moved toward the kitchen.

"Not funny." He said, coming up behind her. "I haven't ever seen her blush before." In the kitchen, Jo was sitting at the table with a mug of coffee in her hand. "That smells amazing." He said as the smell of the coffee press hit him. Andrea had slid into the chair next to Jo scooting her chair next to her best friends.

"Zane would you like some coffee?" Mrs. Mansfield asked.

"That would be great Mrs. Mansfield." He said, plastering that charming smile on his face.

"Oh mom, don't let Zane near any appliances if you don't want Dad's head to explode when he gets home." Zane shot her a look over his shoulder before returning to the conversation with her mom.

E

Jo looked over at her best friend's eyes smirking at her. She pulled her bottom lip in between her teeth.

"What?" Jo smiled briefly but didn't want to get into the subject. She didn't like showing emotions and this one was a stupid one. "Jay." The word conveyed more than its simplicity.

"How long has Zane been calling you Dre?" She asked. Her best friend's lips pouted in thought as her eyes slid to the ceiling.

"About six weeks I guess. Why?" Jo's eyebrows rose slightly. Six weeks. She had been hanging out with Zane for six weeks and longer. She looked down to her coffee.

"I just didn't know you guys had been talking." She hid the anger and hurt by taking a sip and glanced over at Andrea's silence. The gold eyes were wide with shock. "What?" Then they slid over to the counter where the troublesome blue eyed physicist was talking to Denny.

"Zane." The tone in which her best friend spoke chilled Jo. It was a tone that was used by a parent whenever they were in trouble. Like when Andrea had talked her into jumping off the Lupo's roof into their pool, naked at midnight on New Years Eve. They had been taken to the ER with slight hypothermia, but that didn't stop them being grounded for three weeks.

Jo and Denny both choked back their laughs at the sickly sweet smile on Andrea's face.

"What?" Zane asked. Jo glanced at Andrea before hiding her smile in her coffee again.

"Why is it Jo didn't seem to know we have been talking?" Zane had the intelligence for the tone to hit home, but he pulled his mask up quickly, narrowing his eyes slightly. However, Jo noticed that Andrea saw the flinch.

"Let's get these two settled in." Denny said, her motherly tone breaking the tension between the two convicts. "Jo, you will be staying in Andrea's room with her…" Jo nodded, catching the dilation of lust in Zane's eyes over his coffee rim. "And Zane you will have to bunk with Andrea's brother…"

"Tiny's coming home?" Andrea was suddenly by her mother's side almost before Jo could blink.

"What kind of a name is Tiny?" Zane asked with a snort. Andrea shot him a low level glare but turned back to her mother in question. Denny nodded and Jo felt a full smile pull at her lips. She got up to join the hugging session currently happening and looked at Zane, who was oddly smiling back at her.

"His name is Tim. But Andrea couldn't get the 'm' sound when we were little so she called him Tiny. The name stuck." She explained to him as Andrea pulled out of her mom's shoulder, quickly wiping the tear from her cheek.

"Until High School. Then I could only call him that when no one else was around." She said, flashing everyone in the kitchen a brilliant yet watery smile. "He's been overseas for eight months." Zane nodded, reaching out and squeezed Andrea's arm. Jo blinked, and finished her coffee hiding from the intimate gesture.

She guessed if the two had been talking it probably wasn't that big of a surprise that they would end up having feelings for each other. Jo just thought that Andrea would confront her about it.

"Come on Jay. Superman. I'll show you where the boy's room is." Andrea wiped the happy tears from her face as Jo walked out into the hallway.

"Ow! Jesus I'm sick of getting smacked." Zane said behind her.

"Well maybe you should keep your mouth shut." Jo said without thinking. Then she froze. That was something she would have said to her Zane, to tease him simply but would result in a mouth appreciation session.

"Jay speaks my thoughts. Why didn't you tell her?" Jo turned, attempting to pull the mask of emotionlessness back into place but she felt herself failing slightly. "You asked me to let you tell her and I agreed. Six weeks." Jo glanced at Zane as Andrea pushed past her to the foot of the stair case. Zane looked at her, guilty and sorry. The look made her breath freeze. She never thought that she would be seeing this look from this Zane; correction… Any Zane. Zane was rarely sorry for anything he did, especially keeping secrets. "God I feel like the other woman."

At that one simple, stupid, nonthought through statement, Zane's eyes shifted. The sorry and guilt was gone. It was replaced by longing and lust and that stupid lusty grin started to spread across his face. Jo sighed, the moment lost and she turned around.

"Could you two please stop making googley eyes at each other and come up stairs." Jo grabbed the handle of her suitcase and proceeded to follow her friends command.


	2. Chapter 2

Andrea had shoved Zane down the hall pulling Jo through the door to the room Andrea slept in as a child. The first thing Jo noticed was that the bunk beds that Andrea had used as a young girl was a California king bed with a dark green plush comforter. The walls had been painted a comfortable beige and the pink furniture had been traded out for a beautiful dark mahogany set. Jo absently brushed her fingers over the door frame where a small burn mark resided from an ill attempt at roasting marshmallows inside.

She heard Andrea behind her and she walked toward the other end of the room, putting her suitcase down.

"Jay…"

"It's fine Andrea." She turned, biting her lip. Andrea's eyebrow quirked up and she closed the door. Andrea could always tell when someone was lying. She clicked the lock on the door and placed herself on the bed. Jo sighed and sat next to her. "Locked?"

"How long do you think it will keep him out?"

"With both of us together in here, with a bed? Three minutes." Andrea laughed, turning to face her, crossing her legs Indian style.

"What is bothering you?"

How was Jo supposed to explain that the man she was in love with was down the hall with some almost stranger possessing his body? Her palm still tingled from where his lips had pressed against it. She knew that it was simply to get a rise out of her, how was he supposed to know that it was something he had done before? Something that he did whenever he was groveling, or whenever one of them was sick.

"Sorry about the hand thing. I was so happy that you guys made it that I didn't really think through what would happen if Zane saw me kiss you."

"It's ok. Just… hurts." Her heart had fluttered when he had done that, and then broke when she remembered that he didn't remember the first time he had done that.

"So… have you told him?" Andrea asked. Jo could tell that she already knew the answer with the tone she used.

"No. I can't. The more people who know…"

"Yeah yeah yeah." Jo smiled and looked over, Andrea brushing the curls out of her eyes. "And he would probably want to know all the science and all the steps and he would try to recreate it and then the shit hits the fan." Jo nodded, glancing out the window toward the field behind Andrea's house.

"You do know that any or all flirting with Zane is strictly to piss off the General right?" Jo glanced over at her friend, remembering Zane touching her arm earlier.

"It's ok you know." She said, glancing down at her lap. "If you do have feelings for him." When Andrea didn't answer Jo looked over to her.

"Jo I might be a lot of talk but I would never…" Jo shook her head. She knew that Andrea would never intentionally fall for Zane.

"He is a great guy you know. I would understand." Andrea breathed in a sigh, shifting so that she was now facing Jo on the bed.  
>"Jo. I know that Zane is a great guy. I am friends with him. And beside the fact that I will want to know every little detail about the what I am assuming is mind blowing sex, I won't ever have feelings for him. He is yours." Jo laughed slightly. "I always want to know about sex, good bad or otherwise and you know that."<p>

"Good to know." Jo's eyes fell closed as Andrea glanced down at her watch. They hadn't even heard the lock being picked and Zane has chosen the perfect time, for him, to join the conversation. "Anyone specific you are talking about?" He asked. Jo glanced over to see Zane leaning casually against the door frame, that stupid smirk on his face.

"Three minutes on the dot. No one you would know Clarky." Andrea said. The name caught Jo off guard and she blinked over. "Superman got old and he can't fly. Plus I'm sure he does look rather sexy in glasses." She said, throwing a smirk at the man in the door frame. Before Zane's mouth could talk they heard the door open, the General announcing that he was home from the airport. Andrea lunged off the bed practically punching Jo in the face in the process and slammed into Zane on her way downstairs.

"Didn't think she liked her dad that much." Zane said as Jo walked passed him.

"Oh she doesn't. But her brother is another story."

E

Jo was smiling at him. A full smile, white teeth showing, lips stretched wide. And it was aimed toward him. He knew that leaning in and getting a repeat of the kiss in the Sheriffs' office wasn't the best idea, no matter how badly he wanted to.

"TIM!" The squeal was so loud he thought he had permanently gone deaf. If possible, Jo's smiled widened as she bound downstairs. Zane followed at a slower pace. Jo was hugging someone who was standing next to General Mansfield. The man was about his height, with Andrea's blonde hair. He sauntered down to stand on the bottom stair and shoved his hands into his pocket. The showing of family display was making him slightly uncomfortable. And jealous.

As wonderful has his mom had been the thirteen short years he had lived at home, they weren't exactly touchy feely.

"Donovan?" Zane pulled his cocky smile back into place and looked to the General.

"Thanks for having me." That vein in the General's forehead starting throbbing and Zane allowed his smirk to strengthen.

"Andera." Andrea pulled out of the mess of arms that was Jo and her brother and glanced at Zane.

"I told you he was coming to thanksgiving daddy." It took everything in Zane not to laugh out loud. The sudden sweetness and innocence that spread across Andrea's face made her look like a baby deer.

"And I said no."

"Who is this?" Zane's attention was pulled to the young man, around his age, in army fatigues.

"Tim Mansfield, Zane Donovan." Jo said.

"The Zane Donovan?" Tim asked dropping his bag. Tim looked at him, and Zane just allowed it to happen. He could have said something snotty and insensitive but Andrea was clinging to her brothers arm like he was a god.

"Nice to meet you." Zane replied.

"Billy?" Denny was there again and Mrs. Mansfield stole her sons attention.

"Oh yes. Mom's homemade cranberry sauce." Andrea was suddenly next to him, linking her arm through his elbow.

"Told you." She said leaning her chin against his shoulder. Zane smiled down at his friend and slightly rolled his eyes. He knew that all her touching was going to happen and he didn't really mind; she was hot. But he had kissed her before and while she was a woman and all, it was one of the strangest kisses he had ever experienced. There was literally nothing that he felt except lips on his. He couldn't really explain it. "It's the best on the east coast." She leaned up and pecked him on the cheek before following her family into the kitchen.

Dinner was an interesting affair. Andrea's hands had slipped under the table to squeeze his knee without warning and causing him to jump. The General looked as if his head was going to explode so Zane stayed as quiet as he could. Despite the attention from Andrea and, politely, her mother Zane couldn't help but notice Jo was paying more attention to Tim than anyone else. He tried to let himself know that just because Jo had somehow gotten his grandmothers ring didn't mean she belonged to him. In fact, she was still avoiding the topic as much as possible.

"So Jo." Zane watched as Jo focused across the table. "How are things in your personal life going in that town?" Denny had asked politely, taking a sip of her wine. It didn't go unnoticed that Andrea's hand had clenched into his thigh at the question. He glanced down at the blond, only to see her looking across him at her friend. Jo laughed slightly and smiled.

"It's complicated." Jo muttered.

"Holy crap. Jo Lupo, you love someone." Zane chocked on a small piece of something. Had Jo been in love with Tagart? Tim was laughing as he nudged Jo. "I can't believe that hardass Lupo is in love with someone."

"Tim." Denny scolded. Zane had picked up that Jo and Tim had served together very shortly over sees.

"Sorry Mom. This is hard to believe. Jo said she was never going to fall in love."

"Tiny." Zane looked over; the extremely defensive look in Andrea's eyes was something he had never thought of.

"It's fine Andrea. I guess you could… um say that." Jo muttered. Zane's mouth went dry again as that beautiful flush crept into Jo's cheeks.

"How do you know its love?" Tim asked loudly. Zane was starting to see the resemblance between the soldier and his sister.

"You don't have to indulge Tim." Denny said.

"Come on. Her brothers kept everyone away from her. Do you have any idea how many of us at West Point wanted to take her out."

"Thanks Tiny. I love it when you hit on my friends." Zane could practically feel the blood vessels breaking under her fingers and dropped his hand to hers. The small circular pattern he applied to the back of her hand was something his mother had always used to calm him.

"Um. It's just someone in town." Zane looked over to her confused; Tagart wasn't in town at the moment.

"Come on Jo, I have to know that this guy is good enough for you." Jo twirled a piece of lettuce on her fork and breathed in.

"He is great." Jo said, not meeting anyone's eyes. "He is funny and being Eureka, a genius."

"Sounds like a crush not love." Tim said.

"It's just… the why I feel when he walks in the room. When he smiles, everything seems better. Like the world isn't going to end." Zane felt his chest tighten. He couldn't place how he felt about Jo being in love with someone but it sure sounded like she was. He felt Andrea squeeze his thigh one more time and remove her hand.

"So Zane…." She said loudly, pulling the attention from Jo, who was staring at her plate. "How do you think the new firewalls around the CIA are working?" Zane smiled, but heard Tim and the General choke this time.

"What have you gotten into since I left?" Tim asked.

"Nothing, officially." The smirk she shot Zane made him scowl. The General simply growled. Zane glanced over at Jo who was still staring at her plate.

E

"So every time Zane smiles you think the world is a better place." Jo sighed and put down the magazine she was reading as Andrea curled up on the bed. Jo looked down at her friend, gold eyes blinking above that stupid wicked smirk.

"I never said it was Zane." She said quietly. Andrea sucked a big breath.

"But it is."

"Can I ask you a personal question?" Jo focused on the wall, needing too but not wanting to know the answer.

"It's a thong." Jo scowled.

"Not that question." Andrea smiled and scooted into a sitting position.

"What is the question?"

"Why did you kiss him?" She asked, barely able to state the fact out loud. Andrea had kissed Zane, after Jo had told her everything about the trip to 1947. How her heart had been shattered and all she wanted was for Zane to say 'hey it was a joke to get back at you not answering me. I love you jojo, let's get married.'

"When did I kiss him?" Jo rolled her eyes. Ok so maybe it wasn't a lingering passion between the two, despite the reassurance from Andrea earlier.

"At GD. Zoe saw you."

"Oh yeah." Andrea shifted, tugging her shirt down to cover her stomach. She smiled at Jo. "I saw Zoe walk in." Jo turned to her. That was not the answer she had been anticipating. Andrea nodded. "I saw Zoe walk in, assuming she was looking for Zane so I kissed him to piss her off. And it worked." Andrea shrugged, remembering the blow out from Jo's office.

"So you really don't have feelings for him." Andrea gave her a face, sliding down under the covers.

"He's yours honey. And like I said earlier, you will have to give me all the details of the amazing sex. Since I can't touch him, I have to live vicariously through you when it comes to Zane." Jo laughed, relaxing more than she had allowed since the pet name "Dre" dropped from Zane's lips. "You should kiss him more. He has an amazing mouth."

"I know." Jo said.

"Oh details please. Where was his mouth?" Andrea rolled onto her side, smiling wickedly at the thought. Of course, remembering the last time that Zane's mouth had been latched onto her neck brought back the memory of what his hands had been doing at the time and she felt the heat in the room rise. "Did you need him,' cause I can go get him." Andrea said. Jo growled in response.

"He isn't the same person."

"No he's not. Hey am I?" Andrea was then perched, Indian style next to her. Jo was thankful for the central heating as Andrea's movements pulled the comforter from her shoulders and her tank top was not exactly warm. She looked up at the expectant look on her friends face.

"Yes. The exact same. And everything we did as little kids is the same. The only thing in my life that really changed was Zane and my job." Andrea nodded.

"But those_ are_ the two biggest things." Jo nodded, she had to agree.


	3. Chapter 3

Getting ready for bed was awkward. Tim was much like Andrea where it came to saying anything that was on his mind, and he didn't make it a secret that he didn't understand the equation that Zane was working on. Be it vacation or not he had a massive project due at GD and Fargo was still hounding him for a pulse damper for something.

"You really are a genius. I thought Andrea was just gushing." Zane blinked over.

"Andrea has talked with you about me?"

"Well yeah. Her new 'friend' from Eureka." The air quotes around friend gave Zane pause for a moment before shaking the thought away. Andrea had done almost everything possible of talking up Jo; there was no way that she would be harboring feelings for him.

So when Zane awoke to a hand shaking his shoulder he was confused to see Andrea in his room.

"I need you to come with me." She whispered, yanking on his hands and pulling him out of bed. He felt slightly awkward walking around in pajama pants and nothing else in General Mansfield's house but the thought shot away when Andrea linked her fingers through his. When they got into the hall, she quietly shut the door to Tim's room, leaving her brother snoring behind it.

"What's up?" He asked as casually as possible. He didn't really know what to think about her hand yanking on his and he wasn't sure about how to let her down gently.

"Jo's flailing." She said, cracking open the door to her room. "She punched me in the stomach when I tried to get her to wake up." Zane frowned in thought as his eyes adjusted to the lamp light in the room. Jo was twisted in the sheets, a sheen of sweat across her face.

"So what do you want me to do about?" He asked quietly.

"Just go wake her up." She whispered back.

"If you got punched, she would wake up and taze my ass." Zane whispered. "I like my ass, I don't want it tazed again." Andrea's eyes rolled.

"Agreed, you have a great ass. But she won't taze you just go over there." She said, pushing on him with more force than he thought she possessed. When she didn't stay with him he turned around. She was slowly backing out the door.

"Where are you going?" He asked.

"She gets self-conscious. Just go." She said, pulling the door closed.

Zane sighed just as Jo whimpered and thrashed the other direction. Never in his two years of knowing her had he heard Jo whimper. Not even when she had been shot but not really shot. He walked slowly, like a hunted animal, over to the bed and slowly sat down next to her hip. She had thrashed so much she was twisted in the blankets. He reached out slowly, flinching as a pained look crossed her face, and gently touched her arm.

"Jo?" Her eyes snapped open, not at his touch but as his voice. She was breathing, her chest heaving under her tank top and her eyes shifted to his. He stilled, afraid of the pain she was about to inflict upon him. He didn't think it was possible for him to be more terrified than at that moment.

That is until Jo launched up, burying her face in his bare shoulder and clinging to his waist. This terrified, was completely different. He knew how to handle angry, pain inflicting Jo. Desperate wrapped around him Jo was something he never thought he would ever experience, despite all the fantasies.

Suddenly, before he knew what he was doing, his hand come up to smooth down her bed rumpled hair. It was loose, not pulled back in her pony tail and the coolness of it tickling down his back calmed him. As his hand brushed her head he knew, from somewhere he had no idea where, what to do.

"It's ok Jojo." He whispered, leaning his stumbled cheek against her hair. "It was just a nightmare." His fingers slowly worked out the tangles in her hair and he felt her fingers making circles on his waist. He felt her breast pressing against his side, and felt her breathing start to calm. Without thinking he pressed a kissed to the top of her head.

The contact of his lips to her head made her freeze. She slowly pulled away, looking at him with wide eyes, trailing her fingers across his abs. Her eyes danced around his face briefly before landing on his. He didn't back down. He just stared back at her, watching her slightly deflate. The tingling sensation left from her fingers was still stretching across his stomach, his hand still linked through her hair.

"Jojo?" He asked. She reached up, slowly but determinedly removing his hand from her hair. Shock and disappointment shot through his chest, but he allowed it not to show on his face.

"Go back to bed Zane." She said, scooting back so her back was pressed against the head board.

"Jo." She shook her head, pulling her hair over her shoulder and slowly twisting a piece around a finger. "Come on, what just happened?" He asked, shifting to face her better.

"Nothing." She said quietly.

"Nothing. You punched Andrea in the stomach when she tried to wake you up, me you launch at like I could keep you safe from anything. Come on Lupo."

Her eyes closed and he could tell that she was attempting to keep her breathing under control. He watched as the twitches in her face showed that she was also trying to get her face under control. So he did something stupid and pushed his luck.

"Come on Jo. Just tell me about the ring and why you reacted that way to me just now."

"Get out."

"Jo come on. Just talk to me. Remember how we used to talk?" Her hazel eyes opened and she locked eyes with him.

"More than you know."

"See. What the hell does that mean Lupo?" He said, shifting again so he was closer to her. "We were obviously something. Why can't you just tell me?"  
>"There is nothing to tell." She said quietly, stubbornly sticking to her story.<p>

"Bull shit and you know it." She glanced down, pulling the comforter into her fingers and started playing with it. "My body knew that to calm you down, playing with your hair would do it. I knew that the circles you were drawing meant it was working. I knew that a kiss would calm your breathing. Why did I know these things?" He demanded. "The combination of those things, and the ring Jo? You can't hide from me forever."

"I punched Andrea?" He saw the obvious distraction.

"Yeah. Being on the bad end of your punches, I can say with pretty decent certainty she is probably throwing up." Jo flinched.

"I'm fine." Zane looked over to the Blonde who reached over and yanked the covers out to cover the whole bed instead of just Jo. "Thanks for the help Zane." She said crawling back in bed.

He heard the dismissal in her voice but he kept staring at Jo. Her hands were working the covers practically into knots. He reached out and grabbed her hands, fingers splaying out over the pulse in her wrists. He felt the boost in pulse rate against his fingers. For a second, Jo's fingers tightened around his wrist. His pulse sky rocketed in time with hers as he processed the fact that Jo Lupo was hanging onto him.

"Zane, get out before I wake up my dad." Jo's eyes had closed and Zane ignored Andrea. His brain didn't even compute the fact that two gorgeous women were lying in bed and he was sitting there with them, it was more focused on the one gorgeous woman clinging to him. He slid his fingers up her wrists feeling the soft flesh and the drumbeat of her pulse before something clamped onto his ear.

"Move now." Andrea said, yanking him off the bed by his ear.

"Ow. What the hell Dre." He said as she shoved him out the door. He reached up, rubbing his ear so it would stop throbbing as Andrea smiled sweetly at him.

"Thanks for the help." She said just as sweetly and closed the door, locking it when it shut. He could have picked it, he had picked it, but the pain in his ear lead him to go back to bed instead.

E

Jo was breathing so loudly she didn't hear the lock click. She only felt Andrea climbing back into the bed. Most of her wanted to run into the hallway and tackle Zane, ripping those thin pants from him in the process. The touch on her elbow brought her eyes open.

"I'm sorry I punched you." She whispered.

"It's ok. I'm sorry that I brought him in here." Jo shook her head. Andrea knew the history between Zane and Jo, both histories, and she wasn't stupid. It was logical that she would know Zane's presence would be able to wake her up. "Wanna talk about it?" Jo looked down. Andrea was cuddled into her pillow, her eyes wide and focused. Jo slumped, falling back under the covers and settling onto her side.

"It was just… a memory." She really didn't like the fact that she still suffered from PTSD from her time over sees. Barlow would have said that it was because what she went through was completely traumatic; watching a team mate get tortured to death would scar anyone for life.

"Did he know?" Andrea asked. Jo nodded.

"In a sense. I have had them since I got to Eureka. I couldn't talk about them though, so Zane just knew that it was something bad." She said.

"I know. I read the file." Jo frowned. The file, which she assumed had been redacted, had the highest priority clearance available. "I hacked Daddy's computer." The simple wicked smirk that spread across her friends face calmed her more from her encounter with Zane. "I really am sorry. I didn't think through the repercussions of a half-naked Zane sitting on your bed." Jo smiled.

"Me either. I thought breaking off that kiss in the sheriff's office was hard."

"I have a vibrator if you need it." Andrea said, pointing awkwardly toward her dresser. Jo laughed out loud at that one.

"Good night Dre." She said, throwing as much sarcasm as she could into the pet name Zane had adopted for her. Andrea smiled and turned the lamp off.


	4. Chapter 4

Zane froze the next morning as he came into the kitchen. The smell of bacon had led him in here but the sight that met him was what stopped him.

"You have to mash them." Andrea said, sliding her arms down Jo's from behind and… holy crap whoever thought of mashing potatoes was either a genius or a sadist. He licked his lips and tore his eyes away from the motion Jo was making and smiled at Mrs. Mansfield as she handed him a cup for coffee.

"Harder Jo!" Jo snorted and started laughing. Mrs. Mansfield's eyes rolled as she poured the fabulously caffeinated liquid into his mug. He smiled a thanks at her and attempted to ignore the motion that Jo was using to mash potatoes.  
>"You are a terrible human being." He heard Jo murmur, which only mad Andrea snort in amusement.<p>

"Zane did you sleep alright?" Denny asked. He smiled at Mrs. Mansfield and nodded before glancing at Jo. She had stopped mashing and was looking at him.

"Yeah. I slept great. Even though Tim snores louder than a proton rocket." He said. Jo snorted in amusement before turning back to the pot of potatoes, oddly enough the only one of the woman to understand his joke. Andrea was sipping a glass of orange juice, frowning at Zane over the rim until her dad came in.

Zane knew that Mansfield had entered the kitchen behind him as the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. While Zane was the king of looking like Mansfield never bothered him it was simply because he had really good facial control. He remembered the time at GD when the RSS had malfunctioned; he never really had let himself consider the fact that he was so bitter about working at GD. After all, the only reason he was there was because Stark got stuck on the data that Zane's experiment created and after that, even when Stark died, he never got the data. He glanced thoughtfully at Jo's back as she was laughing at something that Dre said. He never thought he would see her lose control like she had that day and she kept it together longer than anyone else had.

"Did you steal that cup Donovan?" Mansfield barked behind him.

"Oh Billy don't start. Zane is a guest in our house and if he wants to steal that cup he can." Zane snorted into his coffee at Mrs. Mansfield's reply as he turned.

"Well thank you, but it's not my style." He said, winking at the Generals wife. That was when he got a good look at the General himself. Zane had never seen him in anything other than his military clothes. It threw him to see the General in socks, jeans and a polo shirt. "You know, it just got a little stuffy for me, I think I need some air." He said, setting his cup down on the isle as Tim walked in.

"Dude it's like thirty degrees outside." Zane's eyes shifted toward the white scene outside. The blizzard from the night before had stopped, leaving DC looking like a Christmas card.

"He's had colder." He heard Jo mutter. He frowned over at her slightly before nodding his concurrence, wondering why it seemed to upset her so. He nodded and headed toward the back deck off the kitchen.

Zane shoved his hands into his armpits and watched as his breath drifted out before him in a fog. His eyes scanned the frozen field behind the Mansfield's house as the slight winter wind turned his nose red.

"You're gonna freeze out here man." Zane glanced to the side to see Tim, bundled up in winter attire leaning casually against the door.

"Better than being asked if I stole a cup." He didn't even attempt to hide the bitterness in his voice.

"Yeah. Dad can have a pretty big stick up his ass about some things. You know, like the law." Tim said, causing Zane to smirk in amusement.

"Tiny go inside and bug Jay for me will you." Andrea said, appearing at her brother's side with Zane's jacket. Tim's eyes rolled, but oddly he complied. "You know, you really might freeze to death out here." She said, handing him the coat he had removed the day before.

"Thanks." He said. As he slipped it on Dre sighed dropping her head onto his shoulder.

"You know, you can ignore my dad. He has this huge…"

"Stick up his ass?" Zane provided, smiling at the turn of phrase her brother had used.

"I was gonna say prejudice against men who are cuter than he was." He looked down to his odd friend and watched her nose wrinkle at him. He laughed, slipping an arm around her waist and breathed.

Standing outside with Andrea, feeling the bitter cold wind blow around the house calmed Zane. Sure Eureka got snow and it got cold, but it was nothing like an East Coast chill. The wind picked up pieces of blond curls, blowing them into his field of vision and without thinking he reached up and tucked them under her head.

"I wanted to talk to you about Jo mashing those potatoes."

"You wanted to thank me?" She said, that innocent smile spreading across her face.

"Kill you." He felt the vibrations of her laugh through the thick sleeve.

"You could keep me out here a bit more." He laughed, shoving her through the door and back into the pleasantly warm kitchen.

Andrea and Zane were sitting on the couch later that day, Zane having fully thawed from his stint outside.

"Jay, you are going to chew that nail to a stump." Andrea said, causing Zane to blink. He had noticed that Jo was chewing on her nail, but Andrea was facing away from Jo. Sometimes his blonde friend scared him with the possibilities of what her mind could achieve should she focus on something longer than five minutes.

"Damn Dre, are you psychic?" Zane asked. Jo snorted from her chair, and Zane glared slightly. "It was a joke Lupo."

"I know." She said, looking at him slowly. "You don't believe in psychics." Zane blinked again, before he got irritated. How did Lupo know what he believed in? Just another piece to add to the growing Eureka puzzle. He should probably write those down… then again why should he. He had an eidetic memory, so lists could be stored without a writing.

"Hey football." Andrea declared, so loudly both Zane and Jo jumped. "Somebody is playing somebody else for points." She continued as the sports announcer called a tackle. Thankfully, her voice was at a much more normal decibel.

"Andrea, you follow football more than anyone I know. Including Carter." Jo said, that little Lupo smile tugging at her lips.

"Yeah. I was dumbing it down for Genius Super-Man here." She said, in that tone of hers that sounded like having to clarify herself was pointless. Zane only had a moment to shoot the blonde a look before Jo feel into a full blown giggling fit. The sound did things to Zane he didn't want to admit.

Zane had never made it a secret that he wanted to rip Lupo's clothes off and take her where ever they happened to be. But her giggles didn't do that. They made him want to do everything in his power to hear them again. And that thought terrified him. No woman, especially Lupo the Enforcer, had ever made him want to make them laugh.

"Dinner." Denny announced, before Zane has the opportunity to find out what Jo thought was so damned funny.

EE

Her friends were idiots. They sat on either side of her; Jo was intently focused on Tim and Zane was chatting up her mother while she and her father starred at each other uncomfortably across the table. Jo was still diligently ignoring what happened the night before, Andrea's bruised stomach notwithstanding.

"So Jo…" She said loudly, ceasing all conversation at the table. Jo's hazel eyes turned to her slowly with a hint of amusement and question in them. "Why was Zane not understanding football so funny earlier?" At the sound of his name, she felt the blue eyes turn to her, boring into the back of her head.

"Actually, it was the fact that you thought Zane couldn't understand something." Everyone had the table… including her father laughed at Jo's statement. So in essence they were laughing at her. But there was an interesting thing that only Andrea seemed to pick up.

Andrea Mansfield and Josephina Lupo had known each other for about twenty years. Andrea had grown up learning all of Jo's tells. The two had met shortly after Jo's mom had died and Andrea had been the first one who really got Jo out of her shell. It was Andrea who decided that they should follow the four older brothers around.

So, when Jo Lupo had something that she wasn't saying, it was easy to hide it from her other friends and family. She couldn't hide it from Andrea. The very faint, small twitch in the corner of her mouth, and a very slight tightening around the eyes gave away her best friend. As Jo looked over during the laughter from her family, she leaned in slightly.

"You know… except emotions." Jo whispered.

"No secrets." Zane announced, having witnessed the small exchange. Out of the corner of her eye, Andrea caught her father's reaction to Zane; a much more obvious tell than Jo Lupo. Her father's whole demeanor changed whenever a Donovan was so much as mentioned. Just to anger him, as was her whole point of existence, she spun her torso to face the gorgeous genius her best friend was in love with, feeling the wicked gleam pulling into her features.

"I have to have secrets Zaney, otherwise you would know me _way_ too well." She purred, pulling her fingers through the short hair at the base of Zane's neck.

"Andrea Marie, while I have no misunderstandings of your sexual standing, can we not discuss it at the dinner table." Her hand pulled back from Zane's neck, but she did smile at her mother. Her father was practically purple across the table.

"Thanks Mom. I didn't need to know the details of my sisters sex life." Tiny said, causing her head to snap back to the other side.

"Oh that wasn't details, but I can give them to you should you wish me too." She said sweetly. Tiny shook his head, a hilarious look of disgust on his face which broke the ice Andrea had created. The ice was broken further as she saw a hand sneaking over to her plate, headed for her cranberry sauce. "One more inch Zane, and the cranberry sauce won't be the only red liquid on the table." She said, not having moved her head.

"You have too many pairs of eyes." He said, but he did remove his hand from her plate.

"We are a little protective of moms cranberry sauce." Tim supplied with a chuckle.  
>"Best on the east coast." Zane said, bringing out that Donovan charm that her father hated so much.<p>

"Well, I would like to say something." Her father announced. Andrea froze, her eyes slowly moving to her father's frame. "This year has been tough for our family. But today is a day of thanks, remembering the sacrifices of the long journey to get to this land. We are a strong land, a proud land. A land worth fighting for. I am thankful for having Timothy home for Thanksgiving for the first time in three years." She caught her brothers eye and smiled at him. She truly had missed him. "For having Jay here with us again. It has been too long since our whole family was together." Jo's soft smile was thank you enough. The General and Jo were only this soft with each other outside of Eureka. "And that Andrea is not in jail yet." Her smile flashed across the table at her father. "And that Donovan has not gotten nuclear codes from my computer."

"The weekend is still young daddy." She said, causing an unintentional snort to come out of Zane.

"And my darling Denny, for putting up with this family and everything that we throw at you on a daily basis. You are the strongest person I have ever met, and I am thankful, and honored every day that you said yes." Andrea allowed herself a smile private smile as her parents shared a kiss.

"So where are these codes?" Zane whispered, receiving an elbow in the rips.

"At least he was nice-ish to you." Zane laughed, reaching over and squeezing her knee.

By far, the most difficult thing that Andrea would ever have to do is get Zane to stop being an ass while simultaneously get Jo to stop being stubborn. Strategy was something at which she excelled but this problem was like trying to scale a slick brick wall with nothing but her bare hands. There was so much fear and curiosity from the two. She had to figure a way to find out if Zane would spill Jo's secret should he know.

Jo was afraid that of course Zane would; he hated her when she showed up in this timeline so logically he would do whatever he could to hurt her. But the Zane that Andrea knew apparently had never been one to follow the rules; ever. He hijacked NASA when he was nine for Christ sake.

Logically, her brain tells her that Zane would only pursue Jo harder should he know the extent to which she is currently breaking the law. If only she could get Jo to realize that if Zane knew, she could rely on him as another confident. But she knew her best friend. It was going to be much easier to get Zane to stop being an ass, than to stop Jo being stubborn. So that was her focus. Zane. The blue eyed pain in the ass sitting to her right.

"You ok?" He asked, blinking over at her. She nodded, smiling. The poor thing wasn't going to know what hit him.


	5. Chapter 5

Zane stumbled down the stairs blurry eyed and cranky. What was the point of being on vacation if you couldn't sleep in because there were people down stairs yelling at each other? He walked in, expecting to come into the middle of a fight between The General and his daughter. Should that happen, he assumed that Andrea would cling to him just to piss her dad off and he wasn't sure he was up for that at the moment.

"Hey Zane." The chipper voice stopped him in the doorway. It was far too early for so much eagerness. "Oops. Someone needs coffee." Andrea said, her blond curls pulled back and bouncing behind her head in a ponytail.

"I'll get it for him." Denny said, uncurling herself from the couch and headed toward the kitchen, squeezing his arm gently as she passed. The sight he was looking at confused him. Glancing at the clock on the cable box, he saw that it was barely eight in the morning. Yet Jo and Andrea were sitting on the floor of the Mansfield's living room, surrounded by what he guessed was twenty large bags. Jo's hair was down and she had on a thick sweater over a pair of what looked like skinny jeans. Zane glanced over to the doorway seeing three pairs of boots that seemed to be thawing, and then he returned his gaze to the living room.

"What is going on?" He finally got out. Jo looked up at him through a curtain of that unbelievable hair of hers and smiled at him.

"It's black Friday you idiot." Andrea said, diving head first into one of the bags that surrounded the two women. Literally, she dunked her head into one of the bags and disappeared up to her shoulders. Jo giggled and Zane really wasn't sure what to do; there was the possibility that Andrea would suffocate, but he couldn't really bring himself to care without his coffee. Her curly head came bursting out of the bag as she shook her head, assumingly to clear something, but Zane couldn't tell what.

"Here Zane." His attention was pulled back to Denny as she handed him a cup of coffee.

"Thank you. Good morning."

"Mom what's for lunch?" Jo snorted at Andrea as Denny rolled her eyes.

"It's eight o'clock in the morning." Zane said.

"We have been up since three." Andrea said, watching Zane for a beat before diving into another bag.

"What are you looking for?" Jo asked, reaching into another bag to remove whatever was in it like a civilized person.

"That sweater I got." Came muffled from the bag that contained Andrea. Zane rolled his eyes and moved to join Denny on the couch. Andrea popped back up like a Jack in the Box and eyed another bag. "I thought it was in one of the blue ones."

"I put it away." Denny said a small smile on her face that reminded Zane of the woman on the floor in front of him. "I got it for you for Christmas, and the only reason I got it today was because you pouted at me. You will get it in a month." The pout returned to her face as she looked around the bags.

"Why were you guys up at three?" Zane asked. Andrea froze, turning to look at him with a completely dumbfounded look on her face.

"It's Black Friday. Doors opened at four thirty." She said slowly.

"You are crazy." He said. He had learned of the tradition of Black Friday when we got to MIT, but he never really saw the need to battle crowds just to get something for less money. That and he usually built all the tech he really needed anyway. "Do you guys really have to leave tonight? Zane didn't even get to see Daddy's computer." Zane nearly spit his coffee out. Before he got a smart ass comment out though, he caught look of Jo's face; he had seen that look and nothing good came after it.

"He would get arrested. He was only allowed to leave Eureka because I came with him." Lupo said. "It would violate his parole." Zane sipped his next sip of coffee slowly; whoever this Lupo was, he was starting to think she was a completely different person than three months ago. The last Lupo would have tased him at the thought of him going anywhere near a General's computer. He glanced at Andrea, whose head was cocked to the side as she looked at her best friend, a look on her face that meant, as Zane had come to learn, that she was thinking.

"Like you would know." Zane stopped again at the growl that left Lupo's lips at Andrea's comment. If she had had a Taser in her hand, Zane probably would have feared for his ass again. But Dre just laughed looking to search through another bag.

"Zane what time is your flight?" Denny said, pulling the conversation into a less growl inducing territory.

"6:15." He answered. "So we should leave around 3:30-ish."

"And we have to return the rental car." Jo said absentmindedly, flipping through some book. He couldn't tell for sure, but it looked like she was blushing again. God he wished she would stop that, it drove his blood to place it shouldn't be when thinking about Lupo.

"I don't understand who leaves Thanksgiving celebrations on Friday."

"That's all the time I was granted leave." Zane answered. While he liked living in Eureka, especially these days when Lupo's heart had grown three sizes, it was nice to be able to sit around and not have the constant fear of something going wrong that could potentially end the world and everyone in it, or the universe or something. Sometimes, scientists running around unchecked made life a tad stressful. He guessed that was why Jo was always so stressed.

"And I want him out of my house."

"Good morning General. Did you have a good night's sleep?" He asked with as much sarcasm as he could get in the question. The General was wearing jeans and a polo shirt, making him look far less intimidating than usual.

"Billy." Denny scolded.

"It's fine Mrs. Mansfield." Zane said tapping into his ability to ignore Mansfield.

"No it's not." All attention in the room was pulled to Andrea. "Zane is my guest, father, and you have been nothing but rude to him since you and Tiny walked through that door. While I understand he doesn't have the cleanest background, it isn't any less dangerous to allow me near your computer and you know that. Just because you can't prove it, doesn't mean you don't know it. You would be nothing but angry with me if I ever treated one of your friends the way you treat Zane on a daily basis."

"My friends aren't felons."

"But your daughter is." She said. "Zane has never killed anyone. He stole some money, big whoop."

"Three million dollars." Zane was ping ponging between the General and his friend and was attempting to think of a way to communicate to Andrea that her father was turning purple.

"Three million dollars is not as bad as someone's life. You bring Angelo over to dinner all the time and I don't think having an assassin at dinner is very pleasing but I keep my mouth shut and I would damn well appreciate if you did the same."

"This is my house."

"Well you're a douche."

"Andrea." Denny scolded. Jo was strategically looking at the floor and all Zane could do was stare. He knew that Andrea and the General usually didn't get along but he didn't expect their fights to be so… well ok, everything Andrea did was loud.

"No mom. I am sick of him on his high horse. You are no better than a felon just because you have the government backing all the law breaking you do."

"I up hold the law." He said. Zane noticed that temple in the General's forehead throbbing as Andrea stood, her arms crossed and eyes glared.

"Tell that to Richardson." With those four words, Mansfield paled, Denny's mouth dropped open and Tim, who had just come down the stairs gasped. Andrea however held her ground. "You think I don't know everything you do at work? You are a bully. You bully people at work, you bully little Fargo, and you bully me in my own home. Just because you are military doesn't make you better than everyone else and I am tired of pretending that you are. At least Zane is honest about things he does."

"Most of the time." Jo muttered, her darks flickering to him. Apparently the Mansfield's didn't hear her, because the General turned abruptly to leave the room, Denny following him down the hallway.

"Maybe we should pack Jo Jo." He said, trying to break the uncomfortable silence that was in the room.

"Jo Jo?" Tim asked, turning to look between himself and Jo. "Jay is this the guy you were talking about?" And the uncomfortable silence was back. Zane waited for Jo to laugh, scoff or make some rude comment. However, she just sat there staring for a moment wide eyed and chewing on that bottom lip of hers.

"Of course not." Andrea stated, curling herself back onto the floor.

"Then you just let some random guy call you JoJo?" Zane was still staring at Jo, waiting to hear the answers. He called her JoJo because he thought it annoyed her. But it didn't really seem to do that so much anymore.

"He is not some random guy." She said finally, tucking her hair behind her ear. "He's a friend and a colleague. Packing, Zane good idea." She said, standing up gracefully and bolting from the room.

"I pity the man who marries her." Tim said. Somewhere on the floor, Andrea snorted.

EE

"You are insane." Jo said, throwing a pillow across the room at her best friend. Andrea had just said something to the extent that Jo and Zane should stop in Vegas and just get married.

"Like you don't want to." The smile Jo received in response to her glare didn't make her feel any better. "Sorry." Andrea conceded.

"Have you ever gone off on your father that way?" She asked, turning back to her duffle bag knowing that Andrea probably didn't want answer the question.

"Not quite." Jo stood and turned, going to sit next to Andrea against the wall.

"Want to talk about it?"

"No. You and Zane are far more important." Jo rolled her eyes, seeing Andrea's shoulder tense up at the memory. Jo knew her best friend almost better than she knew herself. The fight with her father had stressed Andrea out more than she would let on.

"Andrea." The golden eyes turned to the brown ones, a sadness showing through that Jo hadn't seen in a long time. Andrea had been pushing the issues with her father to the back of her mind since they were twelve. That was the last time Jo had seen this sadness in her best friends eyes. "Hey." She said, slipping an arm around Andrea's shoulders. "I know that you guys don't always see eye to eye, but you know that he loves you right?" Andrea shrugged slightly. "He does. I know your dad and I know that he would move mountains if you asked him too." The gold eyes looked at her communicating her doubt. "For a good reason."

"Now that is a great thing to enter a room too." Jo's brown eyes rolled as she looked over at Zane leaning against the door frame.

"Get a life Zane." She said, getting up and walking back to her duffle. She felt Zane move into the room. Jo paused and watched out of the corner of her eye as Zane slid down the wall next to Andrea. He looked over at her for a second before bumping her with his shoulder. Andrea looked over at him.

"Fuck him." Jo turned in time to see a slow smile break over Andrea's face. She leaned in, pecked Zane on the lips and put her head on his shoulder. Zane leaned his cheek against her hair as Andrea locked eyes with Jo.

"You're crazy Jay." Jo breathed in through her nose. Andrea knew that Jo was trying to let Zane go and Andrea was completely against the fact. For a split second, watching Zane know exactly how to calm down her best friend, and seeing his sensitive side made her think that maybe she was crazy. Her eyes blinked over right as Zane looked to her and she froze. Waiting for the snarky comment, Zane smiled slightly before pressing a gentle kiss to the top of Andrea's head. Maybe he was changing.

"Come on Zane. We have to get going."

"Back to Eureka." And all of the crazy scientists she kept in check.

AN- Thank you to everyone who tells me that they love Andrea. I always lose faith in if anyone reads these and when I get those little email reminders I remember why I write them. Andrea will be back, I just have to marathon seasons 4 and 5 to see where it will fit in.


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